Abstract

Background: Angiosarcoma is a highly aggressive soft tissue sarcoma. Responses to anthracyclines plus/minus ifosfamide, and taxanes alone or in combination with gemcitabine are well documented. Very few data are available on gemcitabine as a single agent. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed all cases of advanced progressive angiosarcoma treated with gemcitabine as a single agent (1000 mg/m. 2 i.v. every week for 3 weeks every 4 weeks), at Istituto Nazionale Tumori and within the Italian Rare Cancers Network from January 2008 to November 2010. Results: Twenty-five patients [mean age: 52 years; radiation therapy (RT)-related: 8] received gemcitabine. Best tumor response by RECIST was as follows: complete response = 2, partial response = 14, stable disease = 2, progressive disease = 7 cases, for an overall response rate (PR + CR) of 68%. Six of eight post-RT angiosarcomas responded to treatment. Median overall survival (OS) was 17 months. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 7 months (range 1-40 months). One patient with a locally advanced thyroid angiosarcoma became resectable after 5 months of gemcitabine, with

T2 - A retrospective case series analysis from the Italian rare cancer network

AU - Stacchiotti, S.

AU - Palassini, E.

AU - Sanfilippo, R.

AU - Vincenzi, B.

AU - Arena, M. G.

AU - Bochicchio, A. M.

AU - De Rosa, P.

AU - Nuzzo, A.

AU - Turano, S.

AU - Morosi, C.

AU - Dei Tos, A. P.

AU - Pilotti, S.

AU - Casali, P. G.

PY - 2012/2

Y1 - 2012/2

N2 - Background: Angiosarcoma is a highly aggressive soft tissue sarcoma. Responses to anthracyclines plus/minus ifosfamide, and taxanes alone or in combination with gemcitabine are well documented. Very few data are available on gemcitabine as a single agent. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed all cases of advanced progressive angiosarcoma treated with gemcitabine as a single agent (1000 mg/m. 2 i.v. every week for 3 weeks every 4 weeks), at Istituto Nazionale Tumori and within the Italian Rare Cancers Network from January 2008 to November 2010. Results: Twenty-five patients [mean age: 52 years; radiation therapy (RT)-related: 8] received gemcitabine. Best tumor response by RECIST was as follows: complete response = 2, partial response = 14, stable disease = 2, progressive disease = 7 cases, for an overall response rate (PR + CR) of 68%. Six of eight post-RT angiosarcomas responded to treatment. Median overall survival (OS) was 17 months. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 7 months (range 1-40 months). One patient with a locally advanced thyroid angiosarcoma became resectable after 5 months of gemcitabine, with

AB - Background: Angiosarcoma is a highly aggressive soft tissue sarcoma. Responses to anthracyclines plus/minus ifosfamide, and taxanes alone or in combination with gemcitabine are well documented. Very few data are available on gemcitabine as a single agent. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed all cases of advanced progressive angiosarcoma treated with gemcitabine as a single agent (1000 mg/m. 2 i.v. every week for 3 weeks every 4 weeks), at Istituto Nazionale Tumori and within the Italian Rare Cancers Network from January 2008 to November 2010. Results: Twenty-five patients [mean age: 52 years; radiation therapy (RT)-related: 8] received gemcitabine. Best tumor response by RECIST was as follows: complete response = 2, partial response = 14, stable disease = 2, progressive disease = 7 cases, for an overall response rate (PR + CR) of 68%. Six of eight post-RT angiosarcomas responded to treatment. Median overall survival (OS) was 17 months. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 7 months (range 1-40 months). One patient with a locally advanced thyroid angiosarcoma became resectable after 5 months of gemcitabine, with